North Korea's surprise live broadcast Friday of Hitomi Soga's kin at Pyongyang airport may constitute another indication that the country is apparently trying to back Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration ahead of Sunday's House of Councilors election, government officials claimed.
The Korean Central Broadcasting Station distributed images of the repatriated abductee's three family members to Japanese TV networks, according to an official at Asahi National Broadcasting Co.
TV Asahi hastily set up a special program and continued to air the image live.